The Fourth Secret: A Fantasy LitRPG Adventure (Divine Apostasy Book 4) by A. Kay (best short books to read .TXT) 📕

and he sat cross-legged with a straight back. Each of the glowing crystals had a small beam of moonlight escaping from their tips, like a candle flame. It was strikingly beautiful.

“Meditating?” Ruwen asked.

Sift rolled backward and on to his feet. “Sifting the moonlight. These crystals enhance the light, which makes it easier, but losing half my sifting ability sucks. I would Cultivate, but that stupid Aspect will appear.”

Ruwen had made Sift promise not to use his Spirit or Core outside of Shelly. If anyone saw Sift’s Falcon Aspect, they may wonder if the Scarecrow Aspect might be nearby as well, and Ruwen didn’t want that attention.

Sift had lost half his sifting power when he’d connected his Air Meridian to his center, but had fulfilled a lifelong dream of flying. Ruwen knew his friend wouldn’t change that, so this was just venting. He nodded in sympathy. “Yeah, that blows.”

“Why do you need to talk to Fractal?” Sift asked.

Ruwen studied Sift for a moment and then threw a punch at his shoulder. Sift rotated his body, slapped Ruwen’s fist away, and then groaned loudly.

“Stop that,” Sift said. “My whole body is on fire.”

Ruwen smiled and stepped back. “How much did you get to Silver?”

Sift winced. “About half.”

“That is incredible progress. We should head back to Shelly after talking with Fractal so you can continue.”

Sift groaned again.

Ruwen laughed. “You’re such a baby.”

“At least I don’t pee my trousers every time I’m a foot off the ground,” Sift said and held his arms out wide with a wince. “Come on, I’ll take you for a short flight.”

Ruwen stepped away. “I’ve seen you fly, and it looked more like crashing.”

Sift dropped his arms. “It’s true my landings need work.”

Ruwen thought a lot more than the landings needed help, but kept that to himself. Instead, he held out his hand. “Give me your forearm. I need to transfer the Shattered Sun mark.”

“Will it hurt?”

“No more than one of your landings.”

Sift sighed and grabbed Ruwen’s forearm. He and Sift were best friends, and Ruwen almost just gave Sift the mark. But Ruwen paused as he thought about Fractal and the obligation he had to protect the dungeon. “Sift, do you promise to do Fractal no harm, or knowingly allow harm to befall him.” Ruwen left out providing items monthly. Sift didn’t have anything, and friends did count for something.

Sift nodded.

“Say it out loud, dummy, it’s an oath,” Ruwen said.

Sift rolled his eyes. “Yes.”

“Then I, Dungeon Master of the Shattered Sun, on behalf of Dungeon Keeper Fractal, do hereby grant you our mark.”

Ruwen’s wrist burned, and he gripped Sift’s arm tight as Sift pulled away.

“Ouch,” Sift said as he glared at Ruwen.

The pain passed and Ruwen let go of Sift’s arm. He almost told Sift his mother hadn’t complained at all, but then quickly swallowed that sentence. The last thing he wanted was Sift thinking he’d run into his parents. Then he’d never go into the dungeon.

There was no reason to worry now. The Addas had just received their marks hours ago, and they hadn’t sounded in a hurry to get here. Blapy showing up however seemed quite possible, and Ruwen felt a little bad for that potential surprise.

Sift’s gaze remained transfixed on his new mark. “This artwork is amazing.”

Ruwen shrugged. “You know Blapy. She has a gift for that stuff.”

Sift held it up. “Do I need to hide it? Or can I wear it like a tattoo?”

“There’s no reason to hide it.”

Sift grinned and returned his focus to the tattoo. “This is the first step in repaying me for all the horrible things you’ve dragged me through.”

“Dragged you? First, I didn’t want to do any of that stuff either. And second, you reunited with Lylan, connected your Air Meridian, and found a flying turtle. Without me, you’d still be sitting in your room trying to whistle.”

Sift ran a finger over the mark. “It gives off heat. I love it so much.” He looked up at Ruwen. “I guess you’ve done a couple small things. But I still haven’t seen much of this world, and to remind you, I’m on vacation.”

“You never let me forget. As soon as we’re done fighting off an invasion, we’ll do something fun for once. And speaking of invasion, that’s why we’re here. Let’s go talk to Fractal.”

They weaved through the crystals, which glowed in the moonlight. The crystals seemed taller to Ruwen, and he wondered if they grew like trees. As they approached the portal to Fractal, the surroundings brightened. He stepped around a dense cluster of giant quartz spikes and stopped.

Sift stepped up beside him. “Holy Lasher Tails, it looks like my mark.”

The portal to Fractal had changed. Ruwen thought back to what Blapy had told him after they’d decided Fractal’s focus. I’ll create a proper entrance for Fractal’s portal in New Eiru, and a mechanism for you to provide items to Fractal there.

And Blapy had done just that. A twenty-foot yellow-orange sphere, the bottom portion buried underground, rotated slowly. Cracks appeared on the surface, causing blasts of heat to radiate outward. The surface flowed like magma and the cracks disappeared, only to reappear elsewhere on the giant ball.

“Uru help me that is the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen,” Ruwen whispered.

Ruwen forced himself to move and as he approached the portal a line of light arced toward him like a whip. It flared outward and condensed into something like a large plate. He figured this must be how you offered gifts to the dungeon and set your loot level.

Opening the Void Band, Ruwen touched it to the glowing plate, and transferred the spirit fruit he’d taken from his Clan trial. He didn’t know if the spirit fruit would remain stable in the Material Realm and wanted to give Fractal the best chance of preserving them.

The sphere spun rapidly, ripping the plate of light away.

Sift turned, ready to run. “Did you break it?”

The ball rotated so fast the cracks disappeared, and it looked like a tiny sun spinning in front of